Talking to Californian nu metallers Linkin Park is exactly the experience you’d expect it to be. Easily distracted, fleeting of mind and partial to more than the occasional swear word, we had a hard enough job pinning them down to any single subject. Over the course of a long afternoon we managed to cover, briefly, everything from embarrassing first records to the good ol’ fame game. But, like all good rock’n’roll, it really got under way with The Beatles…
Do you think it’s possible for a song to change the world? How about John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’?
David Farrell: I’m going to go with no on that. I think even the Beatles, if you were to ask them, would probably say they may have thought that at one point. Or even during that period some people may have thought a song could change the world, but it didn’t necessarily. From my perspective, the closest anyone’s gotten is probably Live Aid or ‘We Are the World’, where it actually brought global focus to a cause, which I think is important. I’m not sure a song can change the world literally.
What’s the first CD you bought and what impression did it have on you?
DF: That’s such a gear change from where I just was! I think the first album was actually a record, and it was Michael Jackson’s Thriller, which is funny because that was the album that probably more than anyone in the world ever has. That’s probably not even a complete sentence! [Laughs]
So it was all downhill from there?
DF: The first CD I ever got – granted it was given to me; I don’t remember if I wanted it at the time – was MC Hammer.
Chester Bennington: I asked my mom, and she was like, ‘What do you want your grandparents to get you?’ I was like, ‘Get me these records,’ and I told her very specifically what I wanted, and I won’t tell you what those were, but… It can’t be worse than MC Hammer. The reason I won’t tell you is because, in my opinion, it was a good one, but what I ended up getting was Dire Straits, the one with ‘I Want My MTV’ on it. That record.
You won’t tell us what you asked for?
I asked for Depeche Mode and The Cure and The Misfits, and I got Dire Straits!
What are your favourite pastimes on tour buses?
CB: Getting off them.
DF: (Laughs) We don’t do a ton of tour bus-ing any more, thankfully. We used to play a lot of video games on them, which was fun.
CB: Either you’re playing video games, or you’re sleeping. There’s really not much else to do on a tour bus.
Okay, so what’s the most memorable way a fan has approached you?
CB: I would say…my most memorable way a fan has approached me…They are now in prison for it, so I prefer not to pick that one.
DF: That was memorably bad.
CB: I would say that the best way fans approach me is like you were saying earlier – we get a lot of people that come up to us and say, ‘hey love the music, you guys, I dig your band, whatever,’ shake your hand, take a picture, be really cool, and let us about our business.
Are you ever star struck, or have you been?
CB: I have been. I have some pretty funny stories actually of star struck-ness.
DF: Starstrikedness.
CB: Starstrikedness. The funniest one was when I had the pleasure of meeting Robert Smith from The Cure, and I wasn’t really prepared for my reaction. We were at an after party for the European Music Awards in Rome and I introduced myself and he was all, ‘I’m Robert Smith’, and I was like, ‘I know’, and I started crying, and I was all, ‘I know…oh f**k it.’ Tears were rolling down my face and I needed to excuse myself so I walked. My thoughts in my head were: What the f**k is wrong with you? So, after I gathered myself together, I went back over 30 seconds later and said, ‘Sorry about that.’ He put his arm around me and was all, ‘It’s okay.’ And I remember thinking: That’s really nice of you.
Your last album was number one in so many countries, is there any place you can seek anonymity today?
CB: Everywhere, pretty much. We are actually pretty fortunate that one of the things we don’t take for granted with this group is the fact that we all really kind of appreciate living normal lives, so we have never really been pestered by a lot paparazzi and weird fans. Every once in a while things happen that are more shocking to us than normal. I think it’s weirder for us to get off a plane and have 20 reporters there with cameras. That’s more strange than normal for us. I imagine you must have to spend some money on security, because it’s a catch-22: the more successful you are, the bigger you are, the more…
CB: And the catch-22 is that the more big dudes you have following you around wearing earpieces the more obvious it is that you might at least think you are somebody. I kind of like being alone more than having lots of people around me, because I kind of get to blend in. It’s hard to do that when you have three 6’5” guys who can bench press a Volkswagen walking behind you in uniforms.
Do you have any favourite getaway places where you feel the most relaxed?
CB: Pretty much home. Anywhere my family is I usually feel really relaxed and comfortable. That’s why I like to bring them out with me. That’s why all of us like to bring our families with us whenever we travel because it keeps that good warm and fuzzy feeling around.
Linkin Park play Yas Arena on November 13. The concert is open to F1 ticket holders only. The band’s latest album, A Thousand Suns, is available now
